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High Tech Gypsy – Amy Powelson

Amy goes where the work is and where the wind blows having worked in professional audio for over 20 years. Amy most commonly works as a FOH engineer for corporate and broadcast events and as a monitor engineer on festivals. Amy has always had a love of music and electronics and has found that a career in professional audio was a perfect match. Working freelance complements her gypsy lifestyle, although, given the right circumstances, she would love to find a steady home.

Amy’s grandfather was a professional jazz musician, and growing up Amy remembers watching her grandfather practice in his basement. He played the Clarinet, Alto Sax, and Tenor Sax and would inspire Amy to take up the trumpet while in Jr. High School. She would later get to play a bit with him and she still has all of his horns. He was one of the greatest influences in Amy’s life. Amy remembers, “during birthdays, holidays and other special occasions, he would always place a mono cassette recorder on the dinner table or in the middle of the room. I still have several ancient cassettes of these occasions. So, from the time I was a very small child, I was always surrounded by music and audio equipment”

Along with a love of music, Amy had a curiosity to figure out how things worked. Her mother would always pick up old stereo equipment and other odds and ends at garage sales. A lot of the equipment did not work, which saved Amy from ever being electrocuted, but she did manage to start a few fires.

Amy's First PA

Amy’s First PA

After high school, Amy attended Kent State University for a semester, as a Pre-Journalism/ Mass Communications major with a minor in Radio/Television Production. This allowed Amy to discover a desire to work behind the scenes in a technical position. However, she found their equipment was so antiquated, and it did not allow involvement until junior or senior year, so she decided to fast-track it and enrolled in The Art Institute of Pittsburgh. Amy enrolled in the Music/Video/Business program and found that The Art Institute opened many doors for her.

 

The first door that was opened to her was an internship at the Graffiti Showcase Cafe, working with the FOH Engineer. The Graffiti Showcase Cafe operated for 17 years and was one of the premier music venues in the country, it closed in 2000.  The Graffiti Showcase Cafe hosted over 1500 acts from Nirvana and Red Hot Chili Peppers to Bonnie Raitt and The Dirty Dozen Brass Band. Amy says she “fell in love with live sound from the first moment I plugged an xlr cable into a stage box”. The internship at Graffiti Showcase Cafe gave Amy practical work experience and she says she learned much more than her formal schooling would have ever taught her.

When her internship ended, Amy headed to Florida and attended Full Sail, graduating with a Associate Degree in Recording Arts. At the time, Full Sail only offered two-degree programs: Audio Recording or Video/Film. Amy says “the studio maintenance course with Hunter Menning was the most valuable in terms of knowing how the gear worked from the inside out.  All of the courses taught me something, but that one stands out. She found that Full Sail gave her credibility and opened up even more doors for her.

Florida to Los Angeles

After graduating from Full Sail, Amy headed to Los Angeles with a shortlist of names and numbers. One of her first gigs was working staging for Kevin Lyman of Goldenvoice, (who would go on to found The Warped Tour) for a Meat Puppets gig in Long Beach. There she met Dave Rat who would recommend her for a gig at the Anti Club. Industrial Sound would help her out too, and Tom Santee of Auntie M, got her mixing gigs right away. Amy remembers a gig in Monterey Park doing sound for Mariachi bands, which was a first for a girl from Ohio. The Anti Club gig would help her land a gig at the Troubadour, and then the Northridge Quake hit.

Early Days

Early Days

Amy decided that maybe Los Angeles was not for her and being the high-tech gypsy she is, headed to Seattle. She was able to get a gig at Moe’s on Capitol Hill and says it was the best house gig ever. Amy kept that gig as long as she could and watched as the Seattle music scene of the ’90s came to an end.

From Seattle – Amy headed back east to Chicago. She worked at Andy’s Music and Chicago Sound doing all the summer music festivals at Grant Park. As that was winding down, she got a call from The Ringling Bros. Circus about a Monitor Engineer position available on their Blue Unit. Amy toured the U.S. mixing both FOH and Monitors in major arenas with the circus band for the last four months of a two-year tour as a replacement engineer but decided not to sign a two-year contract to tour the next show.

 

Ringling Bros. Circus

Ringling Bros. Circus

She headed back to Los Angeles, where she stumbled upon the existence of highly lucrative corporate gigs. Amy landed a gig as an audio engineer for AVHQ Staging Division in Los Angles. She remained there for over two years until they were absorbed by another production company and started to lay everyone off. Since then Amy has remained a freelance engineer working all over the U.S.

Amy has even dabbled in television work. Working on a reality show called Paradise Hotel in Acapulco, Mexico in 2001 and another one called Next Big Champ around that same time. She also mixed 26 episodes for a series for the Jim Henson Company in 2000. While the pay was fantastic, the gigs were absolutely grueling. Long days hiding in bushes with a 35-pound field mixer and RF receiver packs weighing heavily on your lower back while holding a big boom up for hours at a time. Amy did her best to avoid things like killer bees while picking up the intimate dirt of cast members attempting to secretly plot against the others. Amy says “It felt more like boot camp than a career accomplishment, and it was beating me up pretty bad. It was quite an effort to keep that boom up there when I only stand at 5’4” and they never say “Cut” on a reality shoot”.  The Henson project was a rare non-union opportunity Amy was absolutely proud to be a part of. Unfortunately, the series didn’t get picked up for a second season. Amy would love to get back into television if the opportunity was ever offered.

Jim Henson Project

Jim Henson Project

Being a freelance engineer has allowed her to indulge her inner gypsy, but Amy also feels that she has been forced to move around a lot. “It’s not an easy industry for anyone, but I’ve seen a lot of guys move up while I plateaued. I found that the only way to really increase my knowledge was to move around a lot. It gets frustrating when guys who can lift more weight, get more breaks, and you’re toughing it out and doing your part to the best of your ability”. Amy has stuck it out by networking and looking for work everywhere, settling into corporate work, which tends to be very lucrative and steady. Corporate work also tends to require less physical lifting of gear due to larger crew calls.

Amy reflects on some of the calls she gets for gigs because she is a woman, like the Mary Kay convention. “They actually wanted me to work the show while wearing a dress. You try so hard to blend in, and even something like that which seems like an opportunity is ultimately repressive. I’m more than happy to take a gig where they want me for whatever reason, so long as the company hiring me puts me on other shows as well. Most of the time those “we want a female engineer” shows go bust, and you never hear back about the other shows”.

Amy offers this advice to women wishing to enter the field

If like me, you are stricken with the sickness of an innate love of audio, don’t be discouraged if you get stopped at the front door. There are lots of side doors in and you can make it happen if you want it bad enough. I’m not sure spending a lot of money on education is a good idea in today’s economy. I’d take some electronics classes and volunteer to help small local sound companies in return for training and future employment opportunities.  After that, hit up as many manufacturer trainings as possible. It’s a hard profession to make a living at and retain any resemblance of life, but it’s one of the most exciting careers a person can pursue. I’ve had a lot of highs and lows causing me to have a love/hate relationship with it, but I’m still here.

Must have skills

Mechanical dexterity, keen listening skills, knowledge of a wide range of musical instruments and styles of music, organization skills, electrical and wiring skills. The ability to use hand tools. Most of all, the ability to work under extreme pressure and be solution-driven when it all hits the fan, because at some point it will, and it’s more about your ability to recover from chaos than anything else.

Favorite gear

As a freelance hired gun, I don’t often get the luxury of picking and choosing my own consoles or PA system components, so if I’m going to be completely honest… My favorite gear is gear that has been well maintained and is in good working condition. When I do get to choose, it totally depends on the application.

Willie Nelson - The BackYard Gig

Willie Nelson – The BackYard Gig

 

Doornroosje Gets a New Home and Sound System

Guest Blog – Petra Randewijk

Doornroosje started in 1970 in the city of Nijmegen in the east of the Netherlands. The building where the club is currently held is an old building which was not designed for live
music. Over time it has been less able to meet the demands of touring productions and has outgrown its 450 seat capacity. With almost 45 years of sweat from musicians and their audiences dripping into the foundation of the venue, the memories of legendary shows and the ever growing layers of graffiti on the outside, the old place is not an easy one to replace. It holds music history. (more…)

………….Acoustic part 3- 3rd and Lindsley…………..

OR
“How to ram 30,000lbs of gear into a 5 lb bag”

The way things go in this business, even when you make it to the ‘big time’ you always end up back at a bar gig sooner or later.  This tour was purposefully booked into smaller, intimate venues but today’s is probably the most difficult of the tour.  We’ve had some small stages and some difficult load-ins but 3rd and Lindsley in Nashville provided a whole new set of challenges.  Cue the “ we thought this was a couple of guys and acoustic guitars?”  We had to bring in two generators since there wasn’t adequate power in the building for our production.  We have to fit 11 musicians on a stage that is 14′ x 24′.  There is little to no room for the 5 backline techs and monitor world.  And did I mention it’s a bar? (more…)

Intro to – Sound Design for Theatre

By: Gil Eva Craig

In light of the recent news that the Tony’s are planning on doing away with the sound design section of the awards, I thought I’d write a series of articles on sound design for theatre. This first installment is a general overview of what’s involved in designing sound for theatre, and a look at the differences between sound design for theatre and sound design for film and television. (more…)

Demolition and Renewal

My little jazz club is about to become a very big deal. A 10 million dollar deal, to be exact. But before that happens, we have to reduce it to rubble. Our final show, an all-day memorial show in honor of a Jazz St. Louis board member who passed away this winter, is in three days. The sledgehammers start swinging in four. This will also mean a renovation of sorts for me, and like the club itself, my current version is going out with a bang. (more…)

Hello Festival Season

 

Now that it is summertime, things are really moving fast in the shop. Many of our techs are out in the field, working a series of music festivals as well as tours and local events. We are strapped for time and resources to get the gear out the door. This is where the real fun begins. We now have a much faster turnover and with the rate of inventory going out and coming back, we have to be on top of our game. (more…)

Touring Life and Motherhood or How You Can’t Have it All

Note – I do know a few men in the industry who have sole custody of their children and face many of the same issues.

After the birth of my daughters, I took some time off and did not work at all. As reality sunk in, I came to realize that touring was going to be difficult if not impossible. I thought about going back to school and getting a teaching degree – still one of the professions that allows for a schedule to be with your kids. I eventually returned to Los Angeles and took on a general manager role at Rat Sound – which really was doing a bit of everything, similar to what I did before but kept me off the road.

It was pretty great for awhile – I was able to achieve a balance between work and raising my daughters. Then the Chili Peppers launched a 17 month world tour, which I turned down. It took a while for this sink in, as I embraced my new life – I came to really miss being on the road and I wrestled with this for a while – but there did not seem to be any option. I started to work local shows again, but this I found pretty difficult to balance – the long hours, the child care bill, trying to function as a zombie the next day.

Then I was offered REM and I was determined to do it – I did not know how I was going to make it work – but I knew I wanted that gig. After many discussions with the girls dad, we came up with a game plan to make it work. In the end, the gig ended up falling thru as they wanted a FOH and Monitor team, engineers that had worked together for several years. My team was Brett Eliason (PJ FOH Engineer) and he could not do the tour.

It ended up being for the best – as parents we had worked out what we were comfortable with, what I needed to be happy, and what we felt was best for the girls.

It basically broke down to:

And that is what we did for years – still do – but now they are self sufficient and I think look forward to us being on the road. The girls had an extended family that they felt safe with and were loved. It also made them independent. Plus they got to travel with us several times and got to see some cool places.

Of course, this would not have been possible without a father that was willing to be a full time dad. I think this made him a better father – and the girls were bonded to both parents. We both made sacrifices to do this – There were tours turned down on both sides, mixing challenges and experiences that were missed. Yet, when I was home it was 24/7 and for every championship softball game I missed – I was there for most of the season.

I guess what I am trying to share is that you can be a mom and have a career in audio. It is not going to be easy, but life is not easy. You might choose to work a constant theater gig over touring, or work part time doing local shows for a sound company. You might switch to an AV gig. Even with the sacrifices made – I always felt it was better than working a 9-5 job with the kids in daycare. And I still got the rush of working a live concert. Would I have followed the path I did without kids – I will never know.

I would love to hear how others have balanced this or are attempting to.

 

 

The Sound Girls of Brazil!

By: Karrie Keyes

 

03-eng-audio-april-2013-300x225I recently had the chance to meet with some of the women of Mulheres do Audio while on tour in Brazil. Mulheres do Audio are a group of women audio engineers in Brazil, with membership around 126. They meet once a week to study, learn, and share their experiences. The women I met all have a passion for audio that drives them to succeed in not only a male dominated industry but country.

Mulheres do Audio – (Women’s Audio)

According to the United Nations Gender Inequality Index (GII), Brazil ranks at 62 amongst 187 countries. The United States comes in at number 23. Iceland has the narrowest gender gap, coming in at number one with Finland. Followed by Norway, Sweden, the Philippines, Ireland, New Zealand, Denmark, Switzerland, and Nicaragua. The report analyzes four key areas; health, access to education, economic participation, and political engagement. While North America comes in top for economic opportunity, education, and health, Asia and the Pacific lead the way in political empowerment.

10338877_10201355548845671_5785599704025000756_nAna Luiza Pereira a member of Mulheres do Audio shares with us some of the issues facing women in Brazil.

The majority of the population does not have access to good quality essential services such as education, health and transportation. For women, who traditionally have the role of taking care of the home and children, there are not good quality public childcare centers, so for those dealing with young children there’s no alternative other than housekeeping, occasionally doing day jobs like domestic work. Women that do work outside the home are not valued or respected.

The wage difference between men and women is up to 30% according to recent researches. Brazilian law condemns wage discrimination between men and women, yet contracts are made in a concealed way, considering different job positions for the same functions or anything else to justify a different wage.

There’s also the racial and ethnic discrimination. Although there is a lot of miscegenation, racism is a sad reality with black and poor women suffering more prejudice at work and school. Affirmative politics have been applied in public higher education schools in an effort to give more opportunities to the African descendants, but the population in general is still not conscious about the history and prejudice is very present even at the universities.

Unfortunately, sexist violence has been reaching extreme conditions at all social levels, but again, the poor suffer the most. Only recently we’ve been having campaigns against sexual harassment, but it’s an old practice which is rarely reported due to the embarrassment women suffer. There’s still a long way to go… Even though we have a woman president for the first time, the government has not been showing real results in politics for equality due to its commitment to bankers, international investors, corporations and all other capitalism agents to whom gender equality is not a primacy. Social movements have been making a great effort to denounce all those kinds of injuries. It is crucial to demand the government take immediate actions to acquire women’s rights and respect.

All of the women I met were willing to stand up for their rights and were vocal in demanding to be treated equally. Unfortunately, they face many of the same obstacles we face in the States and the rest of the world. Often silenced to keep a gig, not wanting to make waves, and just trying to prove yourself under heightened scrutiny because you are a woman. Many of the women were told over and over again that they could not be hired because they were not strong enough to load equipment and trucks.

06-casa-da-lua-may-2013-300x225In Brazil it is even harder to stand out or shine with a certain expertise or field. There are very few men or women working in audio that can consider themselves a FOH engineer or Mastering Engineer. I was told by the women that they must be well versed in all aspects of audio. There simply is not enough work. One day they will be working in the studio, the next a live show, then working on a broadcast. In live sound they are expected to be able to do everything, often times being responsible for the set-up of equipment while mixing FOH and Monitors. Although, not unusual in the States, especially when starting out, you will hopefully be given to the opportunity to hone your skills to a specialty.

12-soundcraft-si-series-september-2013-300x225It is also important in Brazil to obtain a degree of some sort in show production, although programs at the Universities are limited. It is often the first question employers ask. Many of the women have pursued film school and working in film production. Others have pursued courses in recording and music production; one is a course in Tecnologia de Gravação e Produção Fonográfica (Recording Technology and Phonographic Production) at the Universidade Estácio de Sá, Rio de Janeiro;  and Produção Musical (Music Production), at Universidade Anhembi Morumbi, São Paulo. There is also a graduate course offered in the Cinema and Audiovisual called Imagem e Som (Image and Sound) offered at Universidade Federal de Sao Carlos a free university.There are other private universities that offer graduation courses in Radio & TV and Audio Visiual. Most employers want completion of programs at IATEC in Rio de Janerio and IAV in Sao Paulo

Ana Luiza works primarily on film sound post production, and as a sound editor and designer. She currently teaches at  Universidade Federal de Sao Carlos as a sound design professor.  Ana Luiza decided to teach to provide women with a role model and contribute her expertise so that students would have a specialized learning experience.

07-rf-trainning-june-2013-300x225All of the women take advantage of learning on their own, pursuing online tutorials and courses. They have maintain two facebook pages Female Pro Audio, which is a closed group and was created after AES in 2012 and Mulheres do Audio, which highlights how many women work in the field of sound in Brazil and around the world. Female Pro Audio was created to answer the questions all of us Sound Girls hear over and over again- ‘Wow, a woman in audio, you are the first one I have met. Are there other women? How many women? What got you interested in audio?’ Then they invited all the women they knew to join.

14-flapc4-rosa-class-feb-2014-300x224Eventually Female Pro Audio started to organize weekly meetings in Sao Paulo, and I was fortunate enough to be able to attend one of their meetings. They developed a study plan, outlined subjects to talk and learn more about, and found a recording studio to meet at. The meetings are held at FlapC4 and the women have been meeting since the fall of 2012 to share their experiences, impressions, and what actions they can take to reduce the sexism they face in professional audio. They are able to network and find jobs, it is also a safe place for them to blow of steam. Mulheres do Audio on Facebook is the SoundGirls.Org of Brazil. It puts a face to the women working in professional audio throughout the world and a place where they can meet each other.

13-fraternization-december-2013-300x288The Women’s Audio Mission and SoundGirls.Org have been sources on inspiration. Mulheres do Audio has also been a source of inspiration to SoundGirls.Org. It was truly a wonderful experience sharing the afternoon with these women and glimpsing a part of their lives. Several of the women came to see the monitor world on the Eddie Vedder solo tour and were able to watch the crew line check, again we shared tips and stories it was truly inspiring experience I will not soon forget.

SoundGirls.Org will be highlighting their stories and experiences in the future and I encourage anyone traveling to Brazil to get in touch with them.

Breaking Down Doors in Brazil

Thirteen years ago Fernanda Lemos was a musician in a rock band; today she is the only woman working as a sound engineer for Loudness, the second largest sound company in Brazil. Loudness was founded in 1976 and has become the premier production company in Brazil, providing sound for international touring artists such as Rush and Bon Jovi, Broadway productions and events. How does one go from being a musician to being the only female sound engineer for the one of the largest sound providers in Brazil?

The Audio Team of Loudness

The Audio Team of Loudness

It all started back when she was a keyboard player in a band without anyone to run sound. So Fernanda started mixing their sound checks, and at the same time, she was learning how to record. She read a lot about acoustics, audio, and started following the Brazilian band Paralama do Sucesso. She went to every show she could and tried to get into the sound checks. Paralam do Sucesso had the best audio technology, and she got to be there, watching, listening, and asking about everything. At some point, she decided to leave the stage for backstage.

Fernanda enrolled in an audio course with Brazilian sound engineer Carlos Roberto Pedruzzi. A year later she enrolled at the Estacio de Sa University, in Rio de Janeiro. The university offered a bachelor’s degree in a program called Music Production and Recording, directed by Brazilian music producer Mayrton Bahia. As luck would have it, one of the instructors owned a small sound company and gave Fernanda her first job.

Fernanda started as an assistant sound tech at a small theatre. There she started mixing monitors and FOH. The pay was low, but what Fernanda gained in experience and confidence made up for it. She eventually started working outside shows with Sigmatec and then was referred by her first audio instructor, Mr. Pedruzzi to be a trainee at Loudness.

At Loudness she does a bit of everything depending on the gig, although she works mainly as a monitor engineer or monitor tech. She has been the monitor engineer for Brazilian artist Rita Ribeiro for the last five years. Fernanda is also able to work alongside her husband, a sound engineer at Loudness, he usually takes care of FOH, while Fernanda takes care of the stage. She says they are known as the Audio Couple. She has been able to take part in additional training and certification seminars with Meyer Sound, Digico, Pro Tools, K1 and V-Dosc, and Smaart. She is fluent in English which is an asset when working with international artists.

Rush

Rush

Fernanda recalls one of the most significant and important shows she has done as a lead tech. The shows were Andrea Bocelli at Belo Horizonte, and São Paulo. Andrea Bocelli concerts are quite challenging as their sound crew is very meticulous. The shows are usually staged in expansive areas, with a significant amount of equipment. The Belo Horizonte concert was especially difficult as they only had one night to set up. It was staged on a busy avenue that had to be closed down. “We had to set up the delay towers in the middle of the traffic! The Bocelli crew are great people and superb professionals, so we were able to pull it off. Every time I work with the Bocelli crew I learn something”.

Andrea Bocelli K1 setup at Buenos Aires, Argentina.

Andrea Bocelli K1 setup at Buenos Aires, Argentina.

Loudness provides live recording services for many of the most prominent artists in Brazil. Fernanda often takes care of the recording unit, setup and operates Pro-Tools when it’s needed. “We have two main live recording sets, one fully digital with Avid D-Show/Profile as preamps, other with Amek Recall by Rupert Neve consoles, which sounds amazing! All were recorded with 2 Pro-Tools 10 (HD 3)”. When she was in school, she worked at the university’s recording studio, and this was the beginning of digital audio in Brazil, with Yamaha’s digital consoles like 02-R. The studio had one, and a Pro-Tools 24 mix plus. Because it wasn’t very reliable at this time, they were still using ADAT recorders. This gave her the opportunity to start and continue using recording systems.

Fernanda has faced obstacles, and some of them are cultural, as her job in Brazil is viewed as man’s work. Some of the artists automatically won’t work with her as they do not believe a woman is capable of doing the job. In the beginning, she thought this would change by showing she was capable of doing the job. She has come to realize it is going to take much more time and societal norms must change. She is proud that she is a part of making the change happen.

Fernanda offers this advice to young women entering the field –

Don’t be afraid and don’t be mad if everybody is watching you and testing you all the time. Do your job the best you can and don’t be scared to make mistakes and ask questions. Do the best you can and do not give up!

Must have Skills:

I believe a musical talent helps a lot when dealing with musicians, I’ve been in their position before, and I know how it feels. It makes it a lot easier to communicate with the artists. Listen to all kinds of music.

Being able to remain calm when dealing with problems is crucial.

Being organized.

Favorite Gear

I love huge PA systems that sound smooth and great, even at long distances. I love big concerts!!! The first big PA I worked with was a Meyer Sound M3D, and I remember very well how delighted I was. I know it’s heavy and not the easiest to set up, but I still like the way it sounds. The L’Acoustics V-Dosc is kind of a dream sound, you just set up and it’s ready! K1 has made our lives so much easier, it sounds incredible in all situations, from heavy metal to Andrea Bocelli. I love analogue desks; I’m quite sad that I entered the audio world at the “end” of these great-sounding technologies. My preferred one is surely the Midas XL4! I have done a lot of jobs only setting it up for other people ” I did not get to really “put hands on it,” but my first time mixing with one was delicious! I’m not an anti-digital person, nowadays I like a lot to use Digico desks like the SD8, and I think they sound really great! But if I had a choice for touring… big heavy Midas, no doubt”!

Favorite things about touring

I always loved to travel, and I hate routines that never change. Mix it all together, and I found the perfect job. I never get tired because we are always moving and have new challenges. I love to meet people from all over the world. I like planes and airports, and I love hotels too! I get bored when I am at home too long.

Least Favorite

In fact, being a lady in this area has some problems… for me, WC is the major problem! Very often the sites and venues have only WC for men, and they tend to be dirty. When my husband and I are on different gigs, and we keep missing each other.

Favorite Day Off Activity

I sleep and then I like to discover new places -like beaches, excellent restaurants, taste local beers and regional food…

Long-Term Goals:

I’m pleased to be where I am now. I really want to keep learning. My dream is to do at least one big world tour. My husband and I are thinking about moving to the USA for a couple of years to study and work.

Of course, I would love to work with other women. In Brazil, we only have a few women working with sound, especially live sound. We have a group on Facebook, the “Female Pro Audio,” in which we share with other women our experiences, job opportunities, and talk about sound! I hope it will inspire more and more women and girls to join our “sound world,” and help them overcome the barriers all newbies have. Being a woman makes it doubly difficult. We can always help each other.

The best part of my job is at showtime looking at all the people who are so happy and to think I am a part of this. It’s just amazing.

jazzOP

 

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